Part 35

“23 Reported by al-Tirmidhi; see Sahih al-Tirmidhi 3/171.

Allah says describing the disbelievers:

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And when some harm befalls man, he calls upon Us, lying down, sitting and standing! Yet, when We remove his harm from him, he passes on his way as if he had never invoked Us

for any harm! Thus it is made alluring to the transgressors that which they do."

Zeer CE Be SOD eceer y woe 7 oh FOryey) lepasi ge pel Giedb pth Ste ace Wand 40 Gee GPG SES J ay ite juloalo Say: Who rescues you from the darkness of the land and the

sea, when you call upon Him in humility and secret, ‘If He

(Allah) only saves us from this (danger) we will truly be grateful

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And when some evil touches man, he cries to his Lord, turn-

24 Sarah Yainus, 12. 425 Sarah al-An'‘am, 63. 6 Sarah al-Zumar, 8.

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And when harm touches you upon the sea, those that you call

upon besides Him vanish except Him (Allah Alone). But when He brings you safely to the land, you turn away from Him, and man is ever-ungrateful.”

And when some evil afflicts him, then he (starts a) lengthy

These verses indicate the importance of sincerity, and that Allah responds to the du’ @ of disbelievers at these times, either because they are truly sincere or as a test and trial for them. They also indicate the danger of calling out to Allah only at a time of need, as is the unfortunate case with many of today’s Muslims.

Allah says: ‘Miva esi rests SOTA aaa vows es

And when a wave covers them like darkness, they (the disbelievers) invoke Allah, making their invocations sincere towards Him. But when He brings them safe to land, they are among those who stop in the middle (between disbelief and belief) ”

However, if a disbeliever makes a du‘ 4 to Allah without sincerity, or makes a du'@ to other than Allah, then concerning such du' as it is said:

7 Sarah al-Isra, 67.

8 So rah Fussilat, 51, 9 Sarah Lugman, 32.

And the du’ as of the disbelievers is nothing but in error. 30

All of these verses show that only a disbeliever calls Allah when he feels in need of him; a true believer remembers and calls upon Allah at all times.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said,

As for the believer, it is essential after his prayer is answered that he worships Allah, and is sincere to Him, and turns to Him as he has been commanded. This can be achieved either by doing only the obligatory acts — and in this case he is among the pious — or by doing the obligatory and encouraged acts — and in this case he will be among those who are close to Allah. And whoever leaves part of what he has been commanded with after his prayer has been answered, then he is among the sinners. And this in fact might enter into minor shirk, which most of the creation is tested with. Or, it might enter into shirk in Allah’s Oneness (Rububtyyah), or shirk in Allah’s right to be worshipped alone (Ulahiyyah).?)

6. Sincere dua@ for the Dead Aba Hurayrah narrates that he heard the Prophet (3) say:

“When you pray over the dead, then be sincere in your du’ 2”.

Imam al-Shawkani, commenting on this hadith, said: “The phrase ‘be sincere in your du‘a’ shows that it is not necessary to limit the du‘a to the specific du’ as mentioned, and it is essential for the person praying for the dead person to ask sincerely for him, whether the dead person was known to be a pious person or an evil person. In fact, the person who was a sinner is in even more need of the prayer of his Muslim brothers, and is in dire need of their inter-

‘30 Sarah Ghafir, 50. “31 Og idah fi Anwa' al-Istiftah, p. 17.

Authentic, narrated by Abu Dawad, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban and others, from Aba Hurayrah, and authenticated by al-Albani in Sahih al-jami' # 669.

cession. And due to this, he has now been brought forth in front of

1433 them, and has come to them...’

7. The Du‘ a of Yanus

The dz‘ a that Yiinus (Jonah) made while he was in the whale’s stomach is a special, blessed dw‘ a, and Allah accepts the dua of any person if he makes the du’ a of Yunus.

The Prophet (#8) said: The dua of Dht Nin (ic. the ‘One of the Fish,’ meaning Yunus) while he was in the whale’s stomach,

‘There is no deity or object worthy of worship save you, You are glorified above all deficiencies! Verily, I was among the wrongdoers!"**

—no Muslim can ever make this dua except that Allah will answer him!"

Therefore, this du’ a was not only a blessing for Yunus, peace be upon him, but also for every single Muslim.

8. The dua of Animals

Even animals make dw’ a to Allah for their needs and wants.

Mu'awiyah ibn Khadij said that he once passed by Abi Dharr al-Ghifari while he was standing close to one of his horses, so he asked him why he was so worried about this horse. Abu Dharr re-. sponded, “I think that the dw'd of this horse has been responded to”. So he asked, “And what is the dua of an animal amongst animals?” Aba Dharr said, “I swear by Him in Whose Hands is my life! There is not a single horse except that it makes a dua every morning: ‘O Allah! You have put me under the care of a servant

33 Nayl al-Awtar, 4/78. 847 a ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min al-zalimin.

435 Narrated by Ahmad, al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa’i, from Sa‘d, and authenticated in Sahih al-Jami’ # 3383.

amongst Your servants, and you have put my sustenance in his hands, therefore make me more beloved to him than his family,

Abi Dharr based this statement on a hadith of the Prophet (2%) in which he said:

“There is no Arabian horse except that it is allowed every dawn to make two du’ as. It says, ‘O Allah! You have put me under the care of the one whom you have put me under from amongst the Children of Adam, therefore make me amongst the most beloved of his family and money to him (or, the most beloved of his family and money to him)’”.*””

This hadith also explains the phenomenon of why Arabian horses are the most prized horses in the world.

9. The dua of the Prophet (#) Against a Person

As part of this general mercy, the Prophet (#%) did not curse or abuse any Muslim, and even on such rare occasions where such abuse occurred, the Prophet (#8) prayed to Allah to exchange these condemnations into blessings.

‘A’ishah narrates: “Once, there entered upon the Prophet (#%) two people, and they talked with him words which I could not hear, but they made the Prophet (%%) very angry, and he cursed them. After they left, I said: “O Messenger of Allah (#%)! These two peo-

436 Ay authentic narration by Ahmad (5/162). Even though this is a Companion’s statement, it takes on the status of a hadith of the Prophet (3%) since this type of knowledge cannot be obtained through personal reasoning. In addition, the following hadith is additional evidence for it.

437 Reported by Ahmad, al-Nasa’i and al-Hakim, and authenticated in Sahih

438 Sarah al-Anbiya, 107.

“And do you not know the agreement that I have made with my Lord? I said, ‘O Allah! Iam only a mortal, so any Muslim whom I curse or abuse, let it be a means of purification and a blessing for him!"”"*”

439 Reported by Muslim (2600) and others.

INNOVATIONS OF Du' 4

Amongst the worst evils that has afflicted the Muslim ummah is the evil of innovations; those acts concerning which the Prophet (38) said, “Whoever innovates something into this religion of ours will have it rejected”. Some of these innovations are based on weak hadith - hadith which cannot authentically be traced back to the Prophet (2%), and should therefore not be acted upon. Others are based upon whims and desires. Some of these innovations even involve shirk!

Some of the more common innovations are mentioned below.

1. Kissing One’s Thumbs and Rubbing One’s Eyes with them

It is all too common to see Muslims kiss their thumbs and then rub them upon their eyes when the Prophet’s (3%) name is mentioned. The basis of this act is the following fabricated narration:

‘Abbas ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr, the Safi, reported with a chain of narrators full of unknown names, that Khidr, the Companion of Moses, said: “Whoever says when the Mu’adhin says, ‘I testify that Muhammad (#8) is the Messenger of Allah,’ ‘Welcome, my loved one, and the coolness of my eyes, Muhammad (#%),’ then kisses his thumbs and rubs them on his eyes, will never have any eye diseases”.

Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim

This is the source of the acts of the ignorant: a chain of unknown narrators, narrating on the authority of a person who lived thousands of years before them!

2. Du'@ in a Group

This is amongst those innovations that have become so common that many Muslims actually believe it isa Sunnah. Yet, this act has no basis in the Qur’an or Sunnah, not even a weak hadith! In many magjids, a joint du‘a is made after every single salah, the imam says a du’ @ out loud, and the entire congregation says, ‘Amin’ behind him. There is no doubt that such an act is an innovation into this religion, as the Prophet (#%) never did such a congregational dua after the salah, nor did the Companions after him, nor did the Successors after them.

In fact, quite the opposite is true! When a drought afflicted the Muslims during ‘Umar’s Caliphate, ‘Umar himself was the one who made the du‘ a, and he also ordered ‘Abbas to make an individual dua. He did not order all the Companions to make a joint du’ a with him, nor did any of the other Companions suggest this to him. This shows that such a concept was unknown to the Companions.